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Posted by: Stephen Winick
There’s been a new discovery and new research into Alan Lomax’s fieldwork in the 1930s! On the John W. Kluge Center’s blog Insights, Antony Stewart, British Research Council Fellow at The Kluge Center, describes a notebook recently discovered by AFC’s Alan Lomax curator, Todd Harvey. The notebook was used by Lomax during his 1936-1937 field …
Posted in: Alan Lomax, Haiti
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
December 7, 2014 will mark 73 years since the infamous attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Americans far and wide felt the collective trauma of the attack, which led to the United States’ entry into World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it, “a date which will live in infamy.” He was …
Posted in: Narratives, Oral History, Storytelling, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Stephen Winick
If you’ve just subscribed to our blog, or missed some of our previous posts, let me fill you in on one of the American Folklife Center’s projects: we’re collecting 2014 photos of Halloween, Día de los Muertos, and other holidays that fall at the turn of October to November. Although we collected hundreds of photos …
Posted in: Halloween, Holidays, Photographs
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
This guest blog post is by Alexandra Jaffe, who spoke on this topic at noon on December 2, 2014 in the Montpelier Room, 6th floor, James Madison Building, Library of Congress as part of the American Folklife Center’s Benjamin Botkin Lecture Series. Jaffe is a professor of Anthropology at California State University, Long Beach with …
Posted in: AFC Events, Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture Series, Botkin Folklife Lectures Plus, Languages and Dialects
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
Historically, the Omaha Indian Hethu’shka Society were a group of highly respected men, voted into the group by unanimous consent of the society, who aimed to set a strong example for their people of the best attributes of a warrior. Although traditionally deeds in combat were the central test for inclusion in the society, such …
Posted in: Alan Jabbour, Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Cultural Heritage, Dance, Folk Music, Folksong, Francis La Flesche, Native American History
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
When talking about United States military veterans, there is a group that often gets overlooked–that of American Indian and Alaskan Natives. In fact, growing up, I don’t recall learning too much at all in school about their rich history and culture. Their story would only be a small part of the chapters on Christopher Columbus, …
Posted in: Cultural Heritage, Narratives, Native American History, Oral History, Storytelling, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
My mother did not like the taste of game, and wouldn’t cook it. To her wild meat recalled childhood poverty, when her father was short of work and so would pick up his rifle and go into the Maine woods to hunt. As an adult I had opportunities to try several kinds of wildfowl prepared …
Posted in: Animals, Foodways, Hunting, Mary Hufford, Narratives, Storytelling
Posted by: Megan Harris
A belated Happy Birthday to the US Marine Corps. On November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted to create two battalions of Marines to assist with amphibious operations, and to serve on land and at sea. Click here to access digitized narratives from more than 1200 Marine Corps veterans in the Veterans History Project …
Posted in: Veterans History Project
Posted by: Megan Harris
This post was written by Lisa Taylor, VHP Liaison Specialist. A version of this blog post is also running on the Library of Congress blog today. Millions of Americans across the country observe Veterans Day every November 11th. What originated as Armistice Day 95 years ago is a holiday dedicated to veterans of all wars–a …
Posted in: Veterans History Project